According to Thucydides, the growth of Athens’s ‘power and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon (Sparta) made war inevitable.” Thucydides believed that the Peloponnesian War was inevitable because when a rising power confronted another power, they would inevitably wage war against each other to further or ...
Why was Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War an important contribution of ancient Greece?
What contributions did Thucydides make to the history of Greece? ... Thucydides was a historian who witnessed the Peloponnesian War. He was able to write about the war from direct knowledge and careful research . He also recorded one of Pericles’s most famous speeches during the war.
Why did Thucydides write about the Peloponnesian War?
In the first sentence of his History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides wrote that he began writing about the war because he believed “it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any other that had preceded it .” He went on to identify what he believed to be the “real cause” of the war.
What does Thucydides blame for beginning the Peloponnesian War?
Thucydides on the Cause of the Peloponnesian War
The growth of the power of Athens , and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable.” ... Sparta was jealous of other powers and desired more power for itself. Sparta was unhappy at no longer having all the military glory.
What is the purpose of Thucydides speech?
Allegedly delivered by the famous Athenian statesman and orator Pericles’ after the first year of the Peloponnesian war, the speech was intended to celebrate those who had fallen, and offers an appraisal of Athenian culture, identity, and ideology .
How did Sparta win the war?
Finally, in 405 BC, at the Battle of Aegospotami , Lysander captured the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont. Lysander then sailed to Athens and closed off the Port of Piraeus. Athens was forced to surrender, and Sparta won the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC.
How did Sparta beat Athens?
Sparta decided to retaliate. Learning from its past experiences with the Athenian navy, they established a fleet of warships. It would be another decade of warfare before the Spartan general Lysander defeated the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami. This defeat led to Athenian surrender .
What did Thucydides believe?
Thucydides believed that the Peloponnesian War represented an event of unmatched importance. As such, he began to write the History at the onset of the war in 431 BC. He declared his intention was to write an account which would serve as “a possession for all time”.
What was the result of the Peloponnesian War?
The Peloponnesian War marked the end of the Golden Age of Greece , a change in styles of warfare, and the fall of Athens, once the strongest city-state in Greece. The balance in power in Greece was shifted when Athens was absorbed into the Spartan Empire.
What is Thucydides best known for?
Thucydides, (born 460 bc or earlier? —died after 404 bc?), greatest of ancient Greek historians and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War , which recounts the struggle between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century bc. His work was the first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s war policies.
Why did Athens lose the Peloponnesian War?
Athens lost the Peloponnesian War for two main reasons. ... The invasion lost Alcibiades, all of the army and navy, and Athens’ morale . Though the war dragged on for another decade, the combined effects of those two problems lost the Peloponnesian War for Athens.
Why did Sparta declare war on Athens?
When Sparta declared war, it announced that it wanted to liberate Greece from Athenian oppression . And with some justification, because Athens had converted the Delian League, which had once been meant as a defensive alliance against the Persian Empire, into an Athenian empire.
Who won the Persian war?
Though the outcome of battles seemed to tip in Persia’s favor (such as the famed battle at Thermopylae where a limited number of Spartans managed to wage an impressive stand against the Persians), the Greeks won the war. There are two factors that helped the Greeks defeat the Persian Empire.
Why is Thucydides important today?
To historians, for example, he is a vital source for ancient Greek history , but has also been seen as a model for history-writing in general; to political theorists, however, he is a pioneering political theorist, and the originator of ‘realist’ approaches to understanding political life.
What did Thucydides write about?
Thucydides wrote about the civil war between Athens and Sparta . Together these ancient Greek writers became the first true historians in Western civilization. We know little about the personal life of Herodotus.
What is meant by Thucydides Trap?
The Thucydides Trap, also referred to as Thucydides’ Trap, is a term popularized by American political scientist Graham T. Allison to describe an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon.
